Arguments for Making Prostitution Legal

Researchers estimate that there are up to 31,000 people in the legal sex work industry in the Netherlands. There are still problems with the living conditions of illegal prostitutes, but for those who have residency papers, life has improved considerably. The Dutch government conducted a study on the quality of life of sex workers in the early 2000s and found improvements in several categories from 2002 to 2007. Proven benefits of legalizing prostitution include mental and physical health care (including STI prevention care), safer and more accessible ways to report violence and abuse, and improved infrastructure and working conditions. So why is the response to such a dangerous industry pushing them further underground, away from social resources and legal protection? When we decriminalize sex work, the lives of sex workers improve. This allows them to go to the police when dealing with recalcitrant clients instead of doing so because it is illegal. This gives them labour rights, which means that if they have a job, they can expect clean and healthy workplaces from their employers. In Nevada, 84% of prostitutes in legal brothels noticed that their workplace felt “safe.” This was “mainly due to the fact that the police, employers and employees were there to protect them.” When I asked Eric Neumayer, one of the co-authors of the LSE study, about the limitations of the research, he acknowledged that the data could not be disaggregated to distinguish between human trafficking and sex trafficking, and that the data were incomplete. “The data does not allow such a distinction to be made,” he wrote in an email. “In fact, it doesn`t even capture the number of victims of human trafficking.” The main argument against decriminalization is that it will lead to an increase in sex trafficking as the market and demand for prostitution increases. Unlike other arguments against decriminalization, which tend to focus on morality, this point raises an empirical question – and proponents of this view often cite studies suggesting that decriminalization leads to more human trafficking.

“Under laws that seek to legalize and regulate prostitution, health cards are often given to women. Theoretically, the cards can be presented to buyers as proof that women have been tested and are disease-free. Even though women are tested for medical conditions, the tests are unreliable and invalid because many tests take days or weeks to get the results. Meanwhile, women see more men who could be infected. SEATTLE, Wash. – If you look at sex work from the perspective of women`s empowerment as opposed to oppression, there is evidence that legalizing prostitution can have individual and economic benefits. Prostitution in the Netherlands has been operating under an effective regulated system for almost two decades. Regulatory practices that restrict sexual behaviour are essential to understanding how different societies perceive sex and sexual activity, and to understanding the benefits of legalizing prostitution. You may agree or disagree with me that I am right not to want a girl to enter these professions. The fact remains that no matter how I feel about her, my future daughter has every legal right to sue her.

A 2014 paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that rape and gonorrhea rates dropped dramatically after Rhode Island decriminalized indoor prostitution in 2003. There is also a more troubling explanation for the decline in rape offences: some violent men may have replaced rape with prostitution. The study found that the prostitution market expanded after decriminalization. With more accessibility and no criminal penalties, potential rapists may have turned away from sexual violence and bought sex instead. (Other research shows that something similar happens with porn — in which some violent men replace rape with porn.) Legalization is a process often applied to what is considered a victimless crime by those working towards legalization, an example of which is the use of illicit drugs (see Legalization of Drugs). In the context of immigration to the United States, the term “legalization” is used colloquially to refer to a process in which a person who is in the country illegally can obtain a lawful permanent resident. Since 1929, U.S. law has provided for the legalization process known as the Registry, which simply requires the applicant to prove that they have been in the country continuously since a certain “registration date” (originally 1921; currently 1972) and is not inadmissible for other reasons (criminal history, etc.). [1] [2] One legalization proposal that has recently been the subject of much discussion [When?] was the DREAM law.